Bay of Pigs: Alabama pilots, disavowed by US, finally getting recognition
Montgomery Advertiser – April 19
…In 2008, University of Alabama historian Howard Jones released “The Bay of Pigs,” a critically-acclaimed book that provides a dramatic, concise account of the missteps leading to the invasion, the disaster that followed and its role as a crucial turning point in the Kennedy administration. (Oxford Press issued a reprint edition in September 2010.)Jones said his book aims to show “the perils of intervention.” He believes President John F. Kennedy’s advisers did not give him the amount of information needed to make an executive decision.…Jones is one of the experts interviewed in an upcoming documentary produced by the University of Alabama Honors College “Lights Camera Alabama” project, which encourages honors students to produce films about Alabama history. On May 10, “Playa Giron,” a documentary about the Alabama Air National Guardsmen’s role in the invasion, will debut online at lightscameraalabama.com. UA student Samuel J. Dotson was drawn to this chapter of Alabama’s history not only by its intrigue — few Alabamians outside the academic or military history circles even have heard this story, he said — but also because of his Cuban heritage. Although the past in Cuba was “kind of a touchy subject in my family,” Dotson said, his grandmother, María Vega de Febles, a former internal resistance member who was arrested the day of the invasion, agreed to be interviewed for the documentary. Dotson also interviewed the late Joe Shannon, one of the three Alabama pilots to survive the battle, and Pete Ray’s daughter, Janet Ray, who today is a sort of heroine among both Alabamians and Cubans who were thrust into the mission…The CIA and the federal government denied involvement and even claimed that the four pilots were renegades.” That familiar claim is an injustice to the men who gave and risked their lives, said Larry Clayton, a University of Alabama history professor. “The Alabamians were most certainly not ‘paid mercenaries’ who were fighting for a wage. They all considered this to be a legitimate extension of their obligations as warriors in the Cold War,” Clayton said in an email interview. Clayton, part of the team that made the film “Playa Giron,” is of Cuban heritage and has written two books on Cuban history. He now is at work on a book about the air battle above the Bay of Pigs…
UA professor, Dr. David Beito, appears on Freedom Watch
Fox Business Channel – April 18
“What happened in the 30s when Roosevelt began cranking up the tax rates in deference to his views that the economy would be better if it were planned by bureaucrats in Washington rather than subject to the free choices of consumers and investors throughout the country? What were the tax protesters protesting? It went together like hand in glove. After the beginning of the income tax we see an explosive growth of government the next few decades.” All right David Beito from the University of Alabama, thank you very much for joining us.
Tax Day 2011: Why do presidents release tax returns? Hint: ‘I am not a …’
Christian Science Monitor – April 18
The modern tradition of presidents, vice presidents, and other politicians releasing their tax returns dates back to a non-Watergate Nixon scandal: tax evasion. …“Nixon’s taxes were an issue that average citizens readily understood as compared to the constitutional issues raised by the Watergate investigation,” concluded University of Alabama tax professor William Samson, in a 2005 analysis of the returns…
UA percussion ensemble performs spring concert
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – April 18
The University of Alabama’s percussion ensemble performed their spring concert at the Moody Music Concert Hall…ensemble director Beth Gottlieb says she prepares her students through a real world approach that will provide students with the ability to survive in the music world no matter what role they take…
Column: Fitzgerald Gala goes on despite rain
Montgomery Advertiser – April 19
…Saturday night’s gala theme was recaptured Sunday as three couples read excerpts from Fitzgerald’s “Ice Palace”. The Scott and Zelda dialogue was presented by retired University of Alabama English professor Don Noble and his wife, Jennifer Horne, a poet; Ed Williams, former director of the University of Alabama Theater Department, and his wife, Julia….